Former Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat on Monday doubled down on his last year's stance on ripped jeans and said that he continues to believe the clothing style is not part of India's culture. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme held by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Uttarakhand's Pauri district, he said that his "views remain unchanged".
"I was never against wearing jeans. I myself wore it when I was younger. My statement was against ripped jeans and I stick to it. Isn't it strange that new pairs of jeans are bought from the market and ripped here and there using scissors before being worn," he said.
"Wearing tattered clothes was never a part of the Indian culture. Even today, people in India do not attend functions in ripped jeans," he added.
Referring to European devotees of ISKCON wearing traditional Indian attire such as dhoti-kurta, Rawat said it was strange that while people from foreign countries were embracing the Indian culture, Indians were giving up on them in a bid to mimic the West.
Not long after he was sworn in as CM of Uttarakhand last year, Rawat gave a shocker when he said that young women follow strange fashion trends and that he was shocked to see a mother wearing ripped jeans and boots while she was on a flight with her children. Soon after, Rawat's remarks had triggered a furore with leaders cutting across political parties and the media severely criticising him and terming his statement sexist.
Though Rawat had the shortest tenure of less than four months as the chief minister, his statement often landed him in controversies.
The furore over his remarks against ripped jeans had barely subsided when he had walked into another controversy saying India was ruled for 200 years by the United States of America prompting the opposition leaders in the state to question his knowledge of history.
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